Season ‘26 (and ‘27) progress update. VIME moto-TSD. In Flagrante Delecto Non!

I have been a little quiet on here over the past couple of months - but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing much. Far from it.

The winter and early spring were spent writing routes and roadbooks - and then with the change of bivouac venue for the Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook rally from Gold River to The Sayward Valley Resort (https://www.saywardvalleyresort.com/ ) Sayward Junction, in order to secure new routes and better camping facilities, further route rewriting was required.

One of the benefits of being a one-man-band in business is that if something needs doing, it can be done immediateley. No need to discuss matters with board members, formulate plans, record meetings and actions, vote on decisions blah, blah, blah…. It is JFDI (if you know what that means and if you don’t, send me a message and I’ll tell).

The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally 1-6 July 2026.

Mid-week in early may, myself and two stalwarts set out for Sayward Junction to begin setting the routes out with the GPS timing gates. The expedition met with mixed success.

The Day1 route setting was peppered by difficulties of the Logging Industry kind. Temporary road closures while trees are being felled and logs loaded are all part of travelling through the forests and while inconvenient on the day, are complications that usually have workarounds. What is more troubling is the frequency that significant Forest Service Roads are “decommissioned” in such as way as to make travel impossible. While FSRs on Crown Land have the status of “highway” for vehicular traffic, it is apparent that the companies who build them can close them without reference to anyone who may wish to use them.

So proved the CC104 extension of Catherine Main beyond Warm Lake between Kokish Peak and Tsitika Mountain, running alongside the Kokish River. The road has had significant amounts of new gravel applied (like more than a metre deep in places) but significant “tank trap” culvert dugouts have been placed across the road turning what would have been a Grade 3 climb into something much harder, especially on a large adventure bike. Please see below….

A rewrite of the Day1 route was obviously called for and was tested by myself and Arne from Gold River. I am pleased to say that there were no hang-ups and the route will prove to be a very appropriate introduction to moto-TSD and the gravel highway network of BC for newcomers and a suitable navigation test for returning riders.

The Prologue route, in contrast, was set without drama or incident. The event programme has the prologue being ridden at dusk on Thursday 2nd July by the competition riders to set the start order for Day1. While the competition riders will get the route roadbook with very little notice, perhaps just an hour or two before the start, it would be coolio if “spectators” were to be given the route by Gaia/GPX at the same time so they could go and see the action on the course. What do you think?

The way the Prologue will be use to set the start order is, in established Time Speed Distance methodology, the progress of each rider will be measured by the timing system (Richta) against the target times and scored with time penalties - one time penalty per each second ahead or behind schedule over each of the timed legs. Each leg timed in isolation to every other (VIME methodology). The winner of the prologue will be the rider who runs up the fewest time penalties. In a development from previous year’s scoring methods, missed Richta Control Point (RCP) timing gates (equipment failure) will be scored as a maximum of 600 seconds late.

The start positions for Day1 will be determined by the results of the Prologue in the following way.

The winner of the prologue will choose their start position.

The last placed prologue rider will start Day1 first - unless the Prologue winner chooses to start first.

The second-last prologue rider will start after the last placed prologue rider

And then so on through the Prologue finish list.

The purpose of this, apart from giving riders an opportunity to test their IT systems in the field, is to address the standing rally issue of the first rider off being at a disadvantage as everyone else can (potentially) follow them. Also, starting competition riders in “reverse order” offers the possibility of keeping the field together over what are long routes.

On the day, the competition riders will start first, followed by the Gaia riders who are riding the courses solo followed by the Gaia riders riding in groups, forllowed by the VIME sweep crew. In this way, any unforeseen complication will be most likely to have a group of people to help address anything that may have happened.

Days 2&3 will follow the same scheme as Day1.

First attempt. Route setting success with the Prologue route was not replicated for the Day 1 route…

CC104 - Catherine main, the extension of Tsitika Main now has the status of “deactivated” by the new forestry operations licence holder. There is some ambiguity though, as the road has had much fresh gravel applied (like a metre deep in places) and to dissuade endeavouring adventure-seekers, many deep culvert cut-outs have been dug.

They are all passable, right up to a very steep section that has obviously had quads and SxS’s go through, but when we three got there and the degree of the challenge so posed was assessed. Common sense prevailed when I imagined the difficulties that would be encountered by, say, unfamiliar riders on Africa Twins and other behemoths on road-biased tyres. This section was perhaps the most remote spot on the route and could I, in good conscience send riders this way?

So that was that! There was no work around. The difficulty was a show-stopper. If anyone has been that way and has made it through, I would love to hear what is beyond - see the map below.

And while we (Stuart) were/was brewing tea, Gary’s Kove decided enough was enough and died.

I’ve included the co-ords of “the challenge” for clarity. Uphill from Warm Lake. And the nearest approach to Claude Elliot Main. If you decide to give it a go, and perhaps also try to force a route through from Catherine Main to the ends of Claude Elliot main I would be very interested to hear of your progress…

Towing a dead bike drama - or absence of drama as the case proved to be…

So there we were, 70Km away from SJ, dead Kove, afternoon wearing on, no intention of coming back with the car and trailer to effect an extraction and Stuart on a 250. I had never towed on a bike before. Gary had never been towed. We had a ratchet strap and recollections of how it was done from watching YouTube videos. The long-short of it was that I towed Gary and the deceased Kove out, 70Km on my DR. It can be done, without mishap, it’s physically testing and requires a great deal of rider to rider coordination but we got the Kove out.

And then I wrote the route again. Testing it tomorrow, report to follow.

The new route works! Rode it yesterday. Blow-by-blow account later!

Days 2&3 will then follow. I am satisfied that I am well ahead of the time schedule I have set myself - still 5 weeks to Go-day to ride two routes.

Les 24 Heures du GoldRiver. Thursday 3-7 Labour Day Monday September 2026.

Looking ahead, the second event in the 2026-27 series id the 24 Heures.

800Km total distance.

As the title suggests, this is a day-night-day event, run to the established VIME moto-TSD format. The route is already planned and the roadbook written. Some of the route is over roads that I am familiar with, some will be new to me.

The event will begin with a Friday Prologue, again to set the start order for the 800+Km marathon. The event will again be open to “Roadbook competitors” and “Gaia/GPX touring” riders. The scoring system will be the same as previously established and there will be some mandatory rest stops. Expect a 30 hour cut-off.

The third event in the series will be The. Great Canadian VI Day trial.

1600Km total distance.

Where VI stands for Vancouver Island and possibly six... This event will run over six days with a Prologue on Day Zero. Three routes, a one day route, a day-night-day route and a three day bikepacking route. 1600Km (1000 miles) with the VIME TSD scoring. The route is plotted and written into a roadbook and will cover roads already pioneered in previous events (largely…). The dates of this event are Wednesday 30 June - Wednesday 7 July 2027 (twenty seven).

This event will hark back to the early days of the International Six Day Trial around a century ago when the event was an endurance and reliability trial of production motorcycles and gentlemen (women?) riders

These three events will stand on their own merits and also form part of a larger, three event series.

Already a few entries for the combined three-event series have been received which means the (unofficial) BC moto-TSD series is now A Thing!

Each event will be run as it’s own entity to the established GoldRiver Rules and to decide toe overall winner, finishing positions in each event will be given a numerical value equivalent to the finishing position of each participant. The position scores will be added up and the series winner will be the rider with the lowest number (in TSD fashion).

So, the winner of each event will be given a series points of 1, second 2, third 3 aand so on. Event 1+2+3 will determine the overall winner. Should the numerics work such that there isn’t a clear winner, the rider with the fewest Time Penalties summed over the three events will serve as the tie-breaker.

Entry fee discount ends Sunday 31 May.

If you are planning to enter the Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally and haven’t yet done so, the graduated entry fee discount ends on Sunday 31 May.

The discounted entry fees or the other event and packages will also decrease on the same date.

Entries can be found on www.gr200.com/shop and elsewhere on this website.

And so, my “work” continues - putting together motorcycle motorsport. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it!

JDB 24/5/26